Category Archives: Uncategorized

Back in the late 90’s and early 00’s, any kid that wandered into their local Spencer’s Gifts or Hot Topics would eventually come face to face with some of the most amazing genre based collectible figurines.

Legendary comic creator Todd McFarlane launched a line of collectibles called Movie Maniacs. Amazingly intricate and detailed figurines of the icons of horror. Freddy, Jason, Leatherface and so many more were able to be brought home to adorn our shelves. But like so many things, they went the way of the dodo.

Now, in the age of ultimate nostalgia, McFarlane is bringing back his line of creepy collectibles

During an interview at New York Comic Con over the weekend, Todd McFarlane told IGN that a handful of the lines that put the company on the map will be coming back.

“We live in a brave new world now where you can go literally from production to the consumer, right? You can cut out all the middle men and we’re seeing that with Kickstarters and people doing direct, you know, dot com,” McFarlane told the site. “So what we’re gonna do is, when we started McFarlane Toys twenty-plus years ago, we were built on the detailed stuff, doing all these cool monsters and all this sort of wicked stuff. Unfortunately, the stores we were selling to at that point, like Tower Records and Suncoast and Babbage’s and KB Toys, and all these other ones, they’ve all fallen to the wayside.”

But it won’t just be the Movie Maniac line, McFarlane dropped another big bombshell when he said “So we’re gonna go back to our origins and we’re gonna go, hey, for all you people who like Tortured Souls? There’s gonna be more. For all you people who like some of the Movie Maniacs? There’s gonna be more. But even the new — the stuff we just created, like Dragons? More. Spawn? More. Twisted Tales? More.”

It’s everything my teenage self with no disposable income could have desired. If you have forgotten what they looked like, check out below for a look at some of the original line of the Maniacs and then start putting your pennies away. Watch out Funko, McFarlane Toys is coming for you…

It’s that time of year again. The leaves are turning. A small chill is in the air. It must be time to go back to school! Luckily that falls during Slater September so we can celebrate with the Christian Slater classic Heathers! After that we head to college to see what devious pranks befall the girls in Sorority Row. Also Noah talks about his cat, Doug talks some Iron Fist, and Bryan goes back to the Summer of ’84!

Don’t forget to keep up with the show and relive all the nostalgia by following us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Send us your memories or show suggestions at graveyardduckpodcast@gmail.com. And be sure to check out all of the great content from this show and other nerdy favorites at geeknerdery.com.

Fan-favorite and one of the best players to play the game, Darrell is in the house! We ask the standard questions, but we also had to squeeze in some questions about Sarah Greyson, the Gauntlet Queen and one of my favorite players. Darrell was a super charming and personable guy, and we bought him hot dogs. We’re basically best friends now. This wraps up our interviews from the Challenge Throwdown for the Cause event in Yorkville. Thanks for listening!

Melinda asked us to get a little weird with it, and we did. I think we made her a little uncomfortable, but that’s ok because she did the same to us. Or at least she tried. We haven’t seen Melinda on the show for quite some time, but we were still excited to meet her in person. We had a separate conversation before our interview that I wish we would’ve recorded but alas, this is all you get of the beautiful Melinda.

This week we find out which team Booby is sending into the Elimination. Also a Champ has a tirade and accuses another team of cheating. After that we find a twist that lowers the competition to just 4 teams.

We weren’t sure what to make of Nicole exactly, but her over-the-top presence we see on TV made for quite the charming, interesting and exciting interactions we had at the Challenge Throwdown for the Cause event. She was very candid maybe a bit drunk for this interview, so prepare yourself.

Let’s be honest, our podcasts are not competitors, so we love having Derrick on a show other than Challenge Mania. Word of warning, this was quite late in the night and many drinks were had, leading to some distraction and some nonsense. Challenged Superfan Kelly interrupts this episode to give Derrick a foot massage which certainly didn’t help the distraction issues. Derrick was super cool, very outgoing and we’re thrilled to have this fan-favorite on the show.

Here it is, kids! The moment you’ve been waiting for…Well, besides Infinity War trail…and the Black Panther release. And TLJ coming out next week. OK! So we’ve had a lot of things to get excited about. What a remarkable time to be a geek/nerd, eh?

Look, we’re sorry about that awful title too, OK? But we’re a legit site, and all the legit sites do the awful headlines like that. We’re rolling with the times, folks.

Alright, let’s get serious here. Guys, the first trailer for the Karate Kid sequel dropped today.

Behold the 48 seconds of pure nerdgasm…or nerd rage, depending on which side of the fence you find yourself.

It’s a teaser, so we’re only getting a taste, but let’s break it down anyway.

Camera flies over the California hills. Screen fades in from black on a handful of trophies before the black curtain drops and we see the All Valley Karate Championship tournament tree revealed. Some newspaper clippings of Daniel and Mr Miyagi. A taped up yellow flyer of Johnny, the new master of the Cobra Kai dojo, inviting you to join. Freshly stenciled mantra in bold black on a white wall:

STRIKE FIRST, STRIKE HARD, NO MERCY

All the while Johnny is shouting out orders. Then Daniel questions Johnny’s judgment…

We’re 14 seconds in and the nostalgia meter is already off the charts.

Inside a building, more trophies, with two people sparring in the back. Now a cliffside where two are practicing moves in sync. A stark contrast in teaching styles. Johnny’s stern voice reminding everyone that mercy isn’t a thing. Daniel telling someone that the fundamentals are all that matters.

Over the shoulder shot of Johnny looking on at his students. A yellow tinted shot of the outside of Cobra Kai, insinuating we’re getting an origin story for the best blonde haired bad guy 1984 had to offer.

Now it’s Daniel’s turn with the back of the head shot as he ties up that iconic black and white Hachimaki.

Some Rivalries. NEVER END.

The music crescendos as we finally see them. Daniel and Johnny. Face to face. Daniel makes a fairly standard threat as the 30 year old tensions reignite.

Cut to black.

Fade in the Cobra Kai logo.

Cue the drums.

CUT THE CHECK.

We’ve always been staunchly opposed to the rebranding, repackaging, and reselling of our youth…

(Ed. note: This doesn’t count.)

That said, we were genuinely disappointed that the Danny McBride Crocodile Dundee reboot turned out to be nothing more than a crummy commercial.

But this, we can’t decide on. It would be good to see what became of both Johnny and Daniel after that fateful night…besides the misadventures in Japan and that, of course. But is it worth it?

This leads into the other “problem” with this new series: It’s a Youtube Red exclusive.

Youtube is making a run at getting their paid service off the ground for good, and they’re coming at the one thing so many of us can’t resist: Our childhood.

Diabolical…

Personally, the draw of the new adventures of D and J won’t be enough to get us to buy in. Not right away at least. If it turns out to be the next Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones…(it could happen) then a re-evaluation will be in order.

It’s an episode all about Jim Henson and his films The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. We discuss the awesomeness of the puppets, sets, and of course David Bowie’s bulge. We then chat about IT, The Cloverfield Paradox, The Shape Of Water, Pieces, and Before I Wake. Just before the show ends you get to find out that Noah is in fact a literate racist. Enjoy.

It’s me again. This is my 14th letter to your company despite my 13 previously unanswered correspondence. I write to you, as always, a loyal member of the Arrowverse Aptly Ambling Society, but with a level of concern for your product that should surpass that of a 38 year old. I am well aware that I am outside your marketing demographic, and my words will fall on deaf ears. At least they have 13 times prior. That said, I find myself week in and week out further questioning my allegiance to your shows.

You know what? Let’s stuff the formality. YOU clearly have.

No need to put on airs at this point, as far as we are into the current season, so I’ll just out with it. What are you doing? Why are you doing it? What possessed you? Are you being stubbornly idiotic on purpose or is it laziness?

Not too long ago, the DC/CW universe was the strongest, most capable representation of DC properties going. It dominated over Fox’s Gotham, and even stood above the consistently ill aimed DCEU. Your stories were solid, your characters strong, and episodes tight and action packed. No one in the TV landscape could contend, not even the powerhouse that is Disney Marvel.

Perhaps, that was your own downfall. Did the lack of true competition make you complacent? Is that why everything has fallen to pieces? If you don’t agree, rewatch the pilot of Arrow. It’s on Netflix. Now watch ANY episode from this season. Do you see the difference? Miles apart, isn’t it?

I am speaking specifically today about Arrow and the Flash. Supergirl is doing her best at staying relevant, if not a bit mundane, in an age where no one seems to know what to do with Kryptonians, and Legends, as I have already and will continue to shout, has figured out its voice and is being exactly what it was meant to be.

If you’ll indulge me, there are fixes here. I’ll cover two of them. One for each show.

ARROW

Make things matter again. I know you thought that my fix for Arrow was killing Felicity. Well you would have had you read the previous 13 letters. But she’s not the probl…no, I can’t finish that sentence. I physically cannot. Because she absolutely is. You’ve gone GOTHAM levels of off canon there. But, she’s hardly the root of the problem.

Nothing matters anymore. There were at least 10 people on that island when it exploded at the end of the fifth season. Why are 9 of them still alive? I know you knew there were problems with the show. Your star said in more than one interview that there were, so it was at least discussed. Nothing says course correct like blowing up 90% of your cast.

I’m not suggesting kill all of them. But kill more than the woman who already wasn’t in the show. See where your biggest pain points are in the off season and simply stop writing them. Thea hasn’t been relevant in 3 seasons. Let her go.

Example: Season 1, Oliver stopped the bad guy and saved the day. Well, he stopped the bad guy at least. He lost his best friend in the process, and the city suffered a horrific earthquake. Season 2, Slade killed Moira, a main character up until then, right in front of her kids. There were CONSEQUENCES. Stuff mattered because it could be lost in an instant. Yes, you killed off Laurel. Don’t think I’ve forgotten that. But you still have a Black Canary.

That’s an entire argument of its own.

The point being is that now, every single character is too precious to lose, and as such, there’s nothing for them to do. People can’t even stay injured. Felicity is paralyzed. There’s a chip for that. Diggle has the shakes. Nah, there’s a chip for that. Seriously, knock it off. Kill a couple people. Make the show mean something again. Let one of them be Felicity.

Flash

This same too many characters problem bleeds into the Flash. Everyone is a best friend now. We’re just best friends saving the best friend world all the best friend time. I mean, isn’t Joe’s fiance like a commissioner or something? How the hell does that work her dating a subordinate? Doesn’t she have other things to do besides be a pregnant, conveniently temporary psychic? Why is she always at S.T.A.R. Labs?

And help me out: what exactly does Iris DO? She’s a reporter, right? So why is she part of Team Flash? What expertise does she possess to be in a super secret science lab? Or coordinating operations? What the hell is going on here? Is she actually a double agent?

Back to my larger point.

Most recently, Barry helped save Goldberg who was serving a life sentence for jackhammering a cop. He got stabbed and Barry helped save his life. But it couldn’t just be that Barry saved the life of a murderer. We couldn’t have that. No. See the Allens, both Barry and Henry, wouldn’t save a person because its the right thing to do regardless of their crimes. It had to be that Goldberg was actually framed by Kickpuncher.
Barry doesn’t save murderers’ lives. That’s all there is to it. He will however release a man convicted of murder, run him to China and strand him there without money, passport, extra clothes, or even a small idea as to whether or not he even speaks the language, all the while foregoing the legal process because the system was wrong!

I’m not even getting into the trial, conviction and appeal of Barry. That was a joke, start to finish. I only have a baseline understanding of the judicial system, having logged well over 200 hours of Law and Order and its sister show, SVU, and even I understand how much of a farce that whole proceeding was…Alright, one note from it.

Barry is at his sentencing. HIS SENTENCING, when the villain du jour was running amok and needed to be stopped. It went thus:

“We need a speedster!”

“Ok, cool. Someone call Wally and we’ll–”

“NO! Tell Barry about it. Have him do it. Have him asked to be excused from his own trial where he’s been convicted of murder and have him go do it.”

Again, I digress. It comes down to you have too many characters scratching for screentime, and you aren’t using any of them correctly. (Dibny aside. Dibny is damn awesome and when his time is up here, get his stretchy behind on the Waverider) Tighten up the corners, let bad guys be bad guys, wrap this whole Devoe project up, and for God sakes stop this random pregnancy powers weird plot device from happening again. It’s cheap and lazy.

Look, I know this letter has only made it as far up as some 3rd AD’s secretary’s assistant. I know that none of this matters, end of the day. You’ll do what you do and that’s all there is to it. But I ask, NO, I IMPLORE that you, Marybelle, somehow get word from your little desk in an office in Vancouver to one or three of your writing staff and insist they go back and watch the first season of Arrow, and the first two seasons of Flash. Understand what is possible, and find your way back there.

We know. We missed last week, making this not all that weekly of a round-up. You can thank illness of the face for that. But we’re back this week! So let’s break this one down before another week slips by us. Worst to First, let’s do it! (A bit spoilery, but not too bad)

Supergirl

Bless her little Kryptonian heart, she’s trying. She really is. But what do you do with an all-powerful, god-like character? A question that’s plagued the Superfamily since forever. At first, the showrunners decided to borrow some of the best of the MAN of Steel’s history the first season, then had him actually show up in National City for what was arguably the best episode of season 2. Well, the answer this year seems to be ignore the question, because other characters not named in the title have a lot going on, and we’ll get to Kara. Promise.

This season has a lot happening to be sure. There’s Alex and Maggie’s wedding that is CLEARLY doomed to not happen as hinted at these first three episodes, Nathan Petrelli is doing his best at megolomaniacal industrialist (until his isn’t? Maybe next week?), Lena Luthor bought Catco because…um…reasons, and Odette Annable will at some point be “making it Reign”. (That’s her quote, not our quote. It’s punny as hell, but admittedly better than what we would have come up with.) Oh, and that one girl is sad about her boyfriend being maybe dead. What’s her na–OH! Kara! Right!

To be FAIR, Kara did some stuff this week. J’onn did most of it assisting M’gann and the white martian resistance though, but Supergirl helped. It was a decent bit of business with J’onn reuniting with his father he previously thought deceased.

A darker, distracted Supergirl was kind of fun. Not Snyder dark, but Kara with a chip on her shoulder that first episode would have made for an interesting sub-plot this season as she works through the idea that even with all the power in the world, she can’t save everyone she loves. It’s a good third season plot that could flesh out Kara and grow her as character. Because if she’s the role model for a generation of young girls, they need to see that even our heroes struggle and we all need to find it in ourselves to overcome.

…No? You’d rather wrap that up half-assedly after 2 eps? Alright, how about a wedding shower then? Yeah to hell with it.

Arrow

…What are we going to do with this show? The time slot change is bad enough as it makes it a lot more difficult to get these reviews done in a timely manner–on top of all the other reasons– but the writers insist on recycling the same storylines the way Flash recycled Ollie’s apartment in last week’s episode. Yeah, we noticed. All of us noticed.

Anyway, Oliver is again this season spending more time as the mayor than as the Green Arrow like last year. Because when we go to watch superhero dramas, it’s important to us that we spend at least 10 minutes an episode worrying about new legislation.

This week, Diggle takes over as Green Arrow as Oliver is under the watchful eye of FBI Agent Mrs. Plot Device, and wants to be a better father to William “Exasperated Sigh” Clayton. Digs got the shakes though as is having confidence issues thanks to his last season visit to Lian Yu. I don’t speak any languages beyond this sort of English and “I am a pineapple” in French, but I have to assume Lian Yu is Mandarin for “No Real Stakes Island”. We’ll come back to that.

From there, the never-ending, white hot poker in the eye that will not be named came on screen. I was suddenly overwhelmed by my own form of Diggle Shakes and slapped the video halfway across the room. I came to outside, standing over a burn barrel holding a box of matches as my tablet sat on top of the pile, reeking of gasoline. The tablet’s fine, but I can’t finish a review for you, because I’m on a kind of expensive laptop and I don’t want to risk another blackout.

Even with the imminent destruction of my tablet, Arrow still ranks ahead of Supergirl this week. This show is still trying to find it’s way back, and we feel like it still can, but it needs to bring back the high stakes that the first two seasons had. Yeah, they killed Laurel, and for this, we will never forgive them, but this show has lost it’s nerve. If you’re going to have every character on an island, and you’re going to explode that island, then have every character survive, you’ve wasted a perfectly good island explosion. They had the chance to course correct, (same as with Flashpoint) and they didn’t take it. They keep letting all the plucky sidekicks survive. They have so many, they could Game of Thrones the hell out of the show once every two weeks, and by season end, there’s still six characters left. My math’s off, but you get the idea. Trim the fat. You have two quirky scientists. Axe one of them. You have 2 gun-toting hard asses. Axe one. You have 2 Canaries. Break one’s neck after you’ve injected bleach into her veins and set her on fire, then reform Laurel, you canon-destroying-on-a-whim, Felicity-fellating jackasses.

I’m feeling woozy..let’s move on.

FLASH

The Flash, what do you say about it? It’s a consistently good show. This week and last week were no exceptions. The writer’s have loosened up on the overly dramatic reins for the time being and everyone is having fun. We didn’t get to cover this, so we’ll touch on it here, last week’s episode made it enjoyable to watch Barry and Iris together for the first time in a while. She wasn’t constantly harping on him all episode and he didn’t spend the tenth week in a row explaining how he’ll never let anything bad happen to her. For the first time in a while, there was natural chemistry between them, and it was good to see.

As far as the fun goes, they introduced Hazard this week; a girl with the worst luck in the world, until she’s introduced to dark matter, thanks to Barry’s return from the Speed Force. She’s a petite blonde that’s funny and fun to watch. In the end, she’s monster of the week, so they wrap her story quick, but she’s got a bigger part to play in Junior Brainiac’s no good, very bad scheme.

This week also saw the return of Tom Cavanaugh (It’s about time you got here! Welcome home!) and Earth 2 Harry Wells. Always good to have him back so Cisco has someone to properly bicker with. The problem there is Harry seems a bit too…not scatterbrained, but less full of himself than when he was around previously and that felt like it lost something. Still good to have him back.

Oh, and poor Wally. This town’s not big enough for two speedsters apparently. Tough Luck, Bro.

Also, I spent the episode deciding that Cecil needs to back the hell up a step. But, that’s obviously not going to happen. Nice cut to black on that one.

Legends of Tomorrow

Understand that before we get too far into this that we know. We do. We know and we understand any trepidation you might be feeling with this being the second Round-Up in a row that Legends came out as top dog. If the illness hadn’t struck last week, Legends would have been number one then too. WE KNOW! It doesn’t make sense! After the first two seasons, we get all of it.

Listen up, though: Legends is the current champion of the CW’s Arrowverse. If you aren’t watching, you’re missing out. Allow us to explain.

Is it a perfect show? No. Some of the worst extra acting around. Sometimes the mains’ acting isn’t all that great either. But what is it about Legends that we find so damn convincing? We said it last time: They’ve found their voice. The writers and showrunners know what they are, and they’re making it work. Not everyone wants the light-hearted approach that Marvel takes with it’s properties muddling in with the super serious world of DC, but this is exactly what the show needs to be.

The Legends aren’t a stoic band of heroes that save the space time continuum while attempting to bone each other in the meanwhile. They’re an imperfect group of screw-ups and also-rans that are doing the best they can with what they’ve got. The showrunners finally cracked that code and allowed themselves and their characters to be fun.

The introduction of the Time Bureau, run by previous captain Rip Hunter, is the perfect adversary for the Legends as they skip through time striving to put right what once went wrong (thanks to their incompetence).

Thats not to say that there aren’t moments of them potentially falling back into old habits, but we’re still cautiously optimistic. The reintroduction of Amaya to the Waverider is a slippery slope. We’re waiting for the moment when they fall back into the well-trodden drama of a relationship between her and Nate, but so far they’ve avoided it. We can only hope that they continue to steer around it so as to not get bogged down with the heavy-handedness of their relationship.

It probably feels unnatural to you, but unless you’re staunchly opposed to humor in your Arrowverse, this is the show to watch. It’s been consistently entertaining for these first three weeks, and with Matt Ryan’s Constantine slated to come aboard, hopefully it can only get better.

We have lost a lot of our beloved horror filmmakers over the course of the last few years, but none had more heart and soul in his work than our beloved zombie maestro George Romero.

Finally, after decades of work and gallons of blood, Hollywood has honored the man, the myth and the legend with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Check out a couple speakers below, and keep a tissue or two close by as we send off the King of the Undead himself.

I believe it was the comedian Lewis Black that said something to the tune of “I remember a time in my life when Halloween was Halloween and Santa wasn’t poking his ass into it.” I do not like to have my Halloween invaded by the cheerful round elf, he will sure as shit get his turn, but I think I may make an exception for today’s offering.

I was lucky enough to see a review screener of a little film that could called I’m Dreaming of a White Doomsday helmed by a man named Mike Lombardo, a sadistic, soulless filmmaker who wants to ruin everything you find cheery.

On a slim budget of around 10 grand, Lombardo and his crew have managed to pull of a once in a lifetime feat by taking a tired trope, that of an apocalyptic Christmas, spinning it around, placing it firmly on its head and then proceeds to kick it in the balls.

I’m Dreaming of a White Doomsday is basically a one set piece, set just before Christmas in the fallout shelter of a young family. After the father leaves to forage for supplies the mother is left alone to care for her young child while dealing with the realities of the end of the world.

If that sounds like a thin as you can be plot, that’s because it is and that is all that the movie needs. However, with the powerhouse performance of Hope Bikle as our mother with no rope to hang onto, you get dragged into this deceptively dark and depressing movie kicking and screaming and you will not be able to look away.

If the word Indie scares you at all, or has a certain perceived notion in your head, just forget it. This movie looks and feels like it was shot by a group of Hollywood hotshots out for a good time. There was never a minute that I had the thought of “Oh, well, I see what the filmmakers were going for, but they had very little to work with, bravo to them.” No, This is the movie that 10 Cloverfield Lane wished it could be.

And to top it all off, when you finally think that you know where this movie is going, it just turns around, gives you the middle finger and politely asks you for your guts!

The gang over at Reel Splatter Productions (click the link to check out their web site, you won’t forgive yourself if you don’t) have put together a movie that cruises in at around an hour and 10 minutes but will never let you forget the time you spend with them. They are hitting the festival circuit now and if you have the chance, make sure you go check them out! These guys will be going far, and I for one welcome their fresh eye to the genre! Well played, boys… Well played….

Doctor Who “The Fall of the Doctor” Review

It’s the beginning of the end for Peter Capaldi’s run as the Twelfth Doctor, as the Cybermen arise, the Masters are a force of chaos, and Bill is trapped as a newly converted Cyberman.

The Gist of It

It’s a rough day for the Doctor: his loyal companion in what was minutes to hours for him but ten years for her was lost and converted to a Cyberman, the Cyber armor is here and that means they’ll eventually want to take over and convert all the remaining humans, and oh, there’s now two Masters to contend with: Missy and her previous incarnation if the form of John Simm’s Master who we last saw in The End of Time during David Tennant’s run as Tenth Doctor. And in facing her past self, Missy is of course conflicted and has seemed to side with her past self self.

And we also know, from the previous episode’s cold open, that a regeneration doth approach.

When In Scotland, Don’t Do As The Romans Do

Scotland, because there’s more to the UK than London. 2nd Century AD, Aberdeen. Taking a trip in the past to prove each other wrong about an argument about the missing Roman Ninth Legion, the Doctor and Bill find more trouble than just settling a historical debate.

Klara Issova plays Marie Curie, the only person to win the Nobel Prize in both Chemistry and Physics, in National Geographic and Ron Howards’s new TV series, GENIUS. The award winning actress who has been in over 60 films spoke with me regarding her role as Curie, Curie’s influence she had on Einstein and gave one of the best answers to my space pirate question I’ve ever heard.

Geek Nerdery: Thank you for speaking with me and Geek Nerdery. I know you worked with National Geographic in the past, what drew you to this project with National Geographic?

Klara Issova: Well I worked with National Geographic on Killing Jesus two years ago and that was great and interesting and so happy they have made so many great feature TV series and movies about strong characters and this was another one and also the second thing is that the whole thing was filmed in Prague and I cooperate with people who worked on another TV series I worked on called Legend starring Sean Bean and it was nice to work with the same crew and showrunner from Prague and the same team working on another great project.

GN: And you are from Prague so you got to work close to home.

KI: Yes, that was really nice so I didn’t have to travel around and got to stay in my own apartment so it was really lovely.

GN: Before you prepared for your role as Marie Curie, were you aware that she had such an influence on Albert Einstein’s life and work?

KI: I wasn’t aware of this specific information that they were quite close friends but I read and did research on the role I’m going to play and this it was really special and she is very famous around Europe because she is Polish and Poland is our neighbor and she is an Icon here for people and around the world and of course I read some books about her life and from her childhodd and it wasn’t easy and there were so many challenges in her way but I didn’t know about Einstein and her relationship before, it was suprising for me as well and new information that people will get known from this TV series.

GN: Especially the way Einstien worked with his wife and how influential she was with the relationship with her husband and the fact Pierre Curie wouldn’t accept the Nobel unless Marie was listed on it.

GN: What do you think Marie Curie would think of the modern woman?

KI; (laughs) That is a great question! I would like to add something about what you mentioned about the beautiful contradiction regarding the TV series which I totally love and where you can follow Einstein and his wife and on the otherhand you can follow Marie Curie and Pierre Curie’s life and quite similar destiny but both marriages ended in very different ways and that was very interesting to me but (laughs) What would she think? I think tell them we are so lucky to live in this time period with all the equipment and internet and everything and everyone has the possibilities and can do anything almost and follow your dreams and women don’t lose this opportunity and to do what you really want to do.

GN: I agree, excellent answer, excellent answer.

KI: Thank you

GN: What do you think geeks will like about this movie?

KI: I think what really is wonderful showing strong characters they have so many obstacles and they fight and they fail and they follow and they try again and again and have to be so patient and so strong and it is crazy to see all the obstacles they had in their way and still stay on their journey and you do the best that you can and with Marie Curie she was really poor and when she was young, when she came to Paris, she starved and she didn’t have any food and kind of things like this, she was cold and hungry and she had permanent obstacles in her way and she stayed on her course and finished school, she studied she became a scientist etc. etc. etc. so I would say it is very inspirational to people and people will see they had positive things in their life and they are heros, Einstein is a hero and Marie Curie is a hero and I don’t know they also had shadows and black moments in their life and people will see they were normal people everybody trying to do their best and so much information about their peronal life this will show. People will see what other people did for us and learn from the history and be thankful and to be so lucky that we don’t have to go thru what they did. We have almost everything and they didn’t.

GN: Yeah at the end of the day Einstein was a man and Marie Curie a woman and dealing with all of the problems that people deal with every day.

GN: I don’t know if this will translate but do you know what a space priate is?

KI: A what?

GN: A space pirate, a popular example would be Han Solo in Star Wars.

KI: Oh okay. I don’t know who that is.

GN: Who would be your favorite space pirate?

KI: Ohhhhhh, my favorite? I don’t know if he is a pirate but for me it, would ET count? I would say ET. I was in love with ET when I was really young and always wanted to be his friend and it was a beautiful movie always liked ET and I would say him.

GN: Technically, yes ET would count as a space pirate because he not only stole Reeses Pieces, he also stole our hearts so yes he would count and kudos to you for being the first person in history to define his as a space pirate. Well done.

When I told friends I saw the most recent addition to the Alien family last week, the first question was always the same: Was it more like Alien or Prometheus? And my answer is always the same, Yes but it is also it’s own. Ridley Scott’s masterful direction is both a sequel to Prometheus and a gateway that is leading the audience to Alien. The film’s prologue begins with a young Peter Weyland introducing his latest creation David (played by one of the best parts and performances of this movie Michael Fassbender) to the world. This is where the elements of Prometheus begin, the religious overtones of creation/God making Man. When David asks Weyland, “If God made Man, who made God?”, you can see Weyland’s’s face shift to the realization that his creation has questioned him and asked what he himself would like to know.

Then, piece by piece, the opening title sequence takes you back to Alien and the tone is set of what the audience is in for. It’s 2104, 10 years after Prometheus and 18 years prior to the original Alien. The Covenant is carrying the frozen cryosleep crew of twelve and 2,000 other sleepy frozen passengers along with 1000’s of embryos on a 7 year journey to a distant planet Origae-6 when it is thrown off course by a burst of crap/space storm/neutrino shock wave that shreds this gold shield thing and nearly kills everyone. Luckily, the humanoid watching over the ship, Walter (also Fassbender) wakes up the crew and saves the day, except for (spoiler alert) James Franco. If you are not a Franco fan then this is the movie for you because his demise is not pretty. The crew mourns briefly, fixes the ship, hears a beacon on a seemingly perfect new planet and despite the fact that they have a course set to a destination I’m pretty positive some really smart people have done a ton of research on, they take 3/4’s of the remaining crew and go to this equally inhabitable planet to explore and shortly after that all hell breaks loose.

So here are the pros: Covenant is a dark, haunting, exhilarating exploration in space and bloodier than the previous films in the franchise that brings the scares Prometheus lacked.The Xenomorphs are magnificent in size and scare factor and the introduction of the Neomorphs (add that to your lexicon) are both terrifying and adorable. Plush Neomorphs and baby Groots may be THE gift for the kids this summer. There is also a POV from the Xenomorph that I don’t recall experiencing as an audience member before. As for the performances, the standouts are

Daniels (Katherine Waterston despite her Floyd Christmas haircut) the female lead reminiscent of Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley cautious, couragous and kicking ass. Faris (Amy Seimetz) the ship’s co-pilot who has the most believable performance from the moment she awakens from cryosleep to her encounter with an ill crew member and what transpires after, she is the only member of the team that follows protocol and her fear looks more than real. The standout and star is David/Walter (Fassbender) who is outstanding and entertaining especially in scenes where he acts with, himself. It is clear that writers John Logan and Dante Harper enjoyed writing the scenes between these two characters with a line like, “Watch me…I’ll do the fingering.”

Which leads to the cons: While practical effects were used, there is a quintessential scene where they were not and in my opinion missed the mark where it was an easy target. Award for worst crew in space goes to…. The Covenant. You have 2,000 lives on board your ship and you decide to go exploring? Last time I checked you had a mission and a destination but this shiny penny planet apparently means more than human existense. And who takes 3/4 of their remaining crew to “check out” a perfect uninhabited planet? Do they not show reruns of ANY television show set in space in 2104?

The character development is abysmal. What angers me about this is the 4 minute teaser trailer released 2 months before of a Last Supper with the crew that establishes relationships, personalites, banter and makes you feel and at least know more than 4 of the charachters names. Why this was not added to the final film I don’t understand because this 4 minute addition would have been that touch the film needed.

Despite the lack of character development and storyline plotholes, Covenant isa gorgeous film that splits the feel of Alien and Prometheus. The Covenant ship is a dead ringer for the Nostromo while the landscape of the planet, both barren of life and beautiful is reminiscent of Prometheus.The production design department led by Chris Seagers will be, in my opinion, nominated and possibly winning many accolades during awards season because of their exquisite craftmandship.

Alien:Covenant is a transition film that is an equal mix of Alien and Prometheus with the horror and tension of the original and the ambition to answer the question of creation and life from the latter. While it did not leave me feeling, anything actually, I do believe it is a film with some misses but a film that should be watched and enjoyed in the theater. I guess my disappointment is that I know this is a an A movie that ended up being a B. This is not the end however, which makes me hopeful. Alien:Covenant opens in theaters May 19th.